Guest Editorial

BY JOHN HOEPPNER | MAY 26, 2010

McCain’s election year amnesia

Hayworth could be best bet to tackle Obama’s socialist regime

“Senator Obama is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” – John McCain – Oct. 10, 2008, Town Hall in Lakeville, Minn.

U.S. Senator John McCain must be confident Arizona voters have amnesia regarding his approval of Barack Obama’s presidential timber. Never mind that Barry Soetoro, aka, Barack Obama had a prolonged record of close associations involving socialists, communists, militants, racist clerics, labor unions, ACORN and the corrupt Chicago political machine reminiscent of Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall. Forget how Senator McCain continues to confer the President a pass as he is “fundamentally changing America.”

The 2010 election is too important to give any politician a pass including Senator McCain and his progressive congressional record. If we fail to confront our elected leaders or ultimately replace them, our pending personal loss of liberty and the American dream turned nightmare is our responsibility. No doubt the Senator has served the country admirably. We should thank him, and then hold him accountable for obsessively reaching across the senatorial aisle only to compromise our liberty with a larger more omnipresent federal bureaucracy.

In my opinion, the majority of incumbent politicians no longer serve the people, they serve themselves. Many of these professional millionaire jet-setting politicians exempt themselves from the laws they pass and fill their pockets with perks and lifetime pensions. Today politicians have become our modern day version of European royalty. Do they even understand the hard-working people they are supposed to represent? At the recent local Tea Party rally with nearly 2,000 in attendance, John Shadegg, our retiring U.S. Congressman, told the audience he has “never been so concerned about the current state of America.” I agree.

• Illegal Immigration – Forget About It: Senator McCain claims in his advertising that he is “Arizona’s last line of defense.” What does that mean? If that “line” refers to the Arizona-Mexico border I am unconvinced. The Senator has told us that the Federal government has failed to secure the border. Doesn’t he understand that he “is” the Federal government? Remember the McCain-Kennedy Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, followed by two Comprehensive Immigration Reform Acts? What is Comprehensive Immigration Reform anyway? Is it securing the borders from the annual invasion of one million illegals? Comprehensive is Orwellian newspeak for full amnesty. It is free U.S. citizenship for more than 11-million lawbreaking illegal immigrants.

• Your First Amendment Rights – Forget About It: McCain-Feingold passed in both Houses of Congress in 2002 and was signed into law by President Bush. Seven years in the making, it was said to be McCain's greatest legislative achievement. The Supreme Court stuck down this anti-Constitutional legislation.

• Your Second Amendment Rights – Forget About It: John McCain partnered with Americans for Gun Safety in an attempt to close down gun shows. The AGS, with McCain as its poster boy, used post 9/11 scare tactics to convince citizens that terrorists were purchasing large quantities of weapons at gun shows. The NRA’s magazine “America’s First Freedom” noted that “according to McCain and AGS, the only safe gun is one that is completely inaccessible to the owner in an emergency.”

• Cap And Trade Tax – Forget About It: McCain and Lieberman co-sponsored the 2003 Climate Stewardship Act that would have introduced a cap and trade system aimed at returning greenhouse gas emissions to 2000 levels. Four years later McCain and Lieberman along with co-sponsor Barack Obama reintroduced the Act two additional times only to fail again.

• Keating Five – Forget About It: McCain took $112,000 in political contributions from Charles Keating’s organization and used his private jets for trips to the Caribbean. McCain met twice with federal regulators regarding the government's investigation of Lincoln Savings and loan. Delaying the seizure of Lincoln Savings and Loan hurt taxpayers and seniors.

• Banks, Insurance Companies and Earmarks – Forget About It: McCain voted in favor of a taxpayer funded $700 billion bailout plan for big banks and insurance companies in 2008. McCain promised never to vote for earmarks. However, this bailout bill was laden with earmarks, including millions in tax breaks for manufacturers of arrows, wool producers and auto racetrack owners.

U.S. Senator John McCain may have been in the White House today if he attacked Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race with the same ferocity he is using in his senatorial campaign ads against J.D. Hayworth. Unfortunately, McCain was defeated. Today, McCain has a $26 million campaign fund. J.D. Hayworth has less than $1 million. Yet in what may seem like a contest of inevitability for McCain’s re-election, the recent Rasmussen poll suggests otherwise. J.D. Hayworth is rapidly gaining on John McCain’s slim 5-point lead (42 – 47 percent). Unless Senator John McCain can clarify his progressive legislative actions, my primary vote goes to J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate.

John Hoeppner is a 26-year resident who served on the 1986 Cave Creek Incorporating Committee. John is recognized worldwide as a leading expert in the discipline of brand research and development. He has received five prestigious AMA Edison Awards for domestic and global Fortune 500 clientele and has served as a director of six organizations including business, educational and public service groups.